First Financial Bancorp. (FFBC) Competitors

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) and First Midwest Bancorp (NASDAQ:FMBI) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, community ranking, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, risk and media sentiment.

Do insiders and institutionals believe in FFBC or FMBI?

77.2% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.1% of First Midwest Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 2.0% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of First Midwest Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts recommend FFBC or FMBI?

First Financial Bancorp. presently has a consensus target price of $27.33, indicating a potential upside of 6.52%. Given First Financial Bancorp.'s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe First Financial Bancorp. is more favorable than First Midwest Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Financial Bancorp.	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
First Midwest Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	N/A

Is FFBC or FMBI a better dividend stock?

First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. First Midwest Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. First Financial Bancorp. pays out 41.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Midwest Bancorp pays out 35.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in FFBC or FMBI?

First Midwest Bancorp received 156 more outperform votes than First Financial Bancorp. when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 57.20% of users gave First Midwest Bancorp an outperform vote while only 46.43% of users gave First Financial Bancorp. an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Financial Bancorp.	Outperform Votes 273 46.43%	Underperform Votes 315 53.57%
First Midwest Bancorp	Outperform Votes 429 57.20%	Underperform Votes 321 42.80%

Which has more risk & volatility, FFBC or FMBI?

First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Midwest Bancorp has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, FFBC or FMBI?

First Financial Bancorp. has higher revenue and earnings than First Midwest Bancorp. First Financial Bancorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Midwest Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Financial Bancorp.	$812.08M	3.02	$255.86M	$2.32	11.06
First Midwest Bancorp	$789.56M	3.11	$199.56M	$1.60	13.44

Does the media favor FFBC or FMBI?

In the previous week, First Financial Bancorp. and First Financial Bancorp. both had 3 articles in the media. First Financial Bancorp.'s average media sentiment score of 0.31 beat First Midwest Bancorp's score of 0.00 indicating that First Financial Bancorp. is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Financial Bancorp.	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
First Midwest Bancorp	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is FFBC or FMBI more profitable?

First Midwest Bancorp has a net margin of 25.27% compared to First Financial Bancorp.'s net margin of 18.55%. First Financial Bancorp.'s return on equity of 10.32% beat First Midwest Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Financial Bancorp.	18.55%	10.32%	1.35%
First Midwest Bancorp	25.27%	8.19%	0.96%

Summary

First Financial Bancorp. beats First Midwest Bancorp on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.